gr_iowlfandomcom-20200214-history
2017 GR Intercontinental Open-Wheel League season
The 2017 GR Intercontinental Open-Wheel League season is the second season of the GR Intercontinental Open-Wheel League. It begun with the Australian Grand Prix, and will end with the South African Grand Prix. Jodie Hill won the drivers championship with 3 races to spare, at Argentina, despite failing to finish in the points. AMI, Inc. won the teams championship, also with 3 races to spare, at Argentina. Teams and drivers The following teams and drivers are scheduled to compete in IOWL's second season. Driver and team changes before the season * Team Impact Brazil, A-B Motorsports, AMI, Inc. and Mallilla Racing were the only teams to retain both drivers from the previous season, although Mallilla Racing would later change one of the drivers, during the season. * Having competed in the final 2 races for Gary Brennan Motorsports, Julia McManus would go on to compete for this team for the entire season. * Christian Marklund joined No Name Racing by replacing Julia McManus. * Wade Bray signed with Rosenberg Motorsports. In 2016, he was competing for Gary Brennan Motorsports. * Sacked by Rosenberg Motorsports to make space for Wade Bray, Martín Urdapilleta found a spot at Martjin Bresler Racing. * Sebastian Dedekind signed with Kaffler Racing after competing most of the 2016 season with Team Paykel. * Previously a reserve driver for No Name Racing, Mikaël Flynn went on to replace Sebastian Dedekind at Team Paykel. * The series had four rookies for 2017: Julia Benkarth, driving for Axion, Olivier Butel, driving for Gary Brennan Motorsports, Christian Pierce and Tuomas Sembrant, both driving for the new Sahlström Motorsports. * Sahlström Motorsports debuted in 2017. Now, the series will have 12 teams and 24 drivers. * Jennifer Stracqualursi and Michael Bootsma officially left the series. The former went for a sabbatical. The latter decided to focus only in the GR All-Oval Championship. In-season driver changes * Martjin Bresler suffered an arm injury during the French Grand Prix. Fellow South African driver, Shane Bax, replaced him for the British Grand Prix. * Due to an avoidable and dangerous accident with then race leader, Jodie Hill, Christian Le Bihan, who was about to be lapped, was not only disqualified of the French Grand Prix, but he was also forbidden to compete in the British Grand Prix, suffering, in the process, a one-race ban. British driver Anthony Strutt replaced the suspended Le Bihan for the British Grand Prix. * Later on, from the European Grand Prix to the United States Grand Prix, Anthony Strutt temporarily replaced Christian Le Bihan again, as the French driver would return to the series at the Argentine Grand Prix. However, after Strutt's win at the United States Grand Prix, the replacement became permanent, and Christian Le Bihan was fired due to his poor results. * Despite being initially confirmed to compete in the United States Grand Prix, Wade Bray was fired by Rosenberg Motorsports, after the Grand Prix Americas, due to his mediocre results achieved in the season. His replacement ended up being the team owner, Christopher Rosenberg. Calendar Calendar changes * The Chinese Grand Prix was discontinued after one race. * There were two new GPs. One was the Pacific Grand Prix, held at the Mine Circuit, in Japan. The other was the Namibian Grand Prix, held at the Windhoek International Airport. * The Canadian Grand Prix happened before the Spanish Grand Prix. * The European Grand Prix happened after the Italian Grand Prix, instead of being after the German Grand Prix. Results Drivers Championship Points are awarded to the top six classified finishers using the following structure: * Drivers in blue are rookies. Teams Championship